I had a chance to look at the article today. It isn't too bad if you can get by the rather subjective opinons as to the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the Luger as a military weapon in general and the Artillery Luger as an assault weapon in particular.
A few coments I would take to task:
- "Hiram Maxim's machine gun was in fact the first successful application of the toggle system of operation"...probably overlooked the fact that Maxim adapted Winchester's toggle mechanism.
-"The recoil impulse of the frame and barrel extension group "breaks" the toggle-joint by pushing it upwards until the axis of the cross-pin lies above the thrust axis (this could be explained more precisely by the use of Calculus)"...It could be explained more accurately without the use of Calculus by stating that the toggle joint is "broken" by the cammimg action of the toggle knobs against the frame ramps.
-"Luger pistols are notoriously ammunition sensitive and require fairly "hot" loads for reliable functioning"...I believe true Luger pistoleros find that the Luger functions quite effectively with moderate loads with the proper OAL of the cartridge, good a magazine that has undamaged feed lips and a springs, both main and magazine, that aren't over a half-century old. The necessity for hot loads has pretty much been put down as an urban legend.
The comments on the loading and use of the drum magazine was pretty good.
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If it's made after 1918...it's a reproduction
Last edited by Ron Wood; 02-06-2009 at 11:03 AM.
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